INU the next SUPERSTAR

Ricky Ponting is his bunny and calls him 'dangerous', Hayden finds himself so helpless in the cricket field that he has challenged him in the boxing ring, the entire ozzie batting line up is troubled by his bowling . He has arrested attention by his attractive opening performance, is 19 yrs old with handful appearances at the international arena and has become the spearhead of the Indian bowling attack. He delivered the fastest ball ever bowled by an Indian bowler when he clocked 152.6 kph (94.8mph) at Adelaide versus Australia . Also, in the process, became first Indian to bowl over 150 kph. Long hairs and a lean but tall built, measuring 6'4" has earned him a nickname "LAMBU". He runs in hard, has an high arm action and swings the ball into the right-handers but can make the ball hold its line as well. Unlike other Indian bowlers he hits the deck hard and extracts deceptive bounce at great pace making life difficult for batsmen. No prizes for guessing it`s ISHANT SHARMA

For one who started serious cricket at 14, his rise was rapid and he made his Ranji Trophy debut at 18. He plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and has a good record at the domestic level he has also toured England as a member of the U-19 team in 2006 and Pakistan in 2007. At the age of 18 Ishant was selected in the Indian squad for the South Africa tour in 2006-07 but to his disappointment after receiving the call and organizing travel arrangements, it was decided not to send him on the tour, however Ishant continued his impressive show in the domestic circuit. In May-07 he was selected for the Bangladesh tour and played as a replacement for the fast bowler Munaf Patel, he did get a chance on the tour but he failed to perform, however he was retained for the tour of England. Later in the year injuries to the main bowlers Zaheer and Sreesanth in the home series against arch rivals Pakistan proved a boon for the young lad. He was included in the playing eleven and he grabbed the oppurtunity with both hands he took 5 wickets in a innings on a dead flat batting pitch and bowled his heart out, this effort won him a place in the Indian team touring down under.

He got a chance in the Sydney test, but was not amongst the wicket takers, he bowled well and should have got more wickets but it was not so, courtesy some very good umpiring by Steve Bucknor(he adjudged Symonds not out of a healthy edge to Ishant) . He again got a chance in Perth and since then Ishant has never looked back, he bowled superbly and made perfect use of the bowler friendly conditions, his spell in the second innings where he made Ponting look dismal n clueless is regarded as one of the best display of fast bowling by the cricketing greats, the additional over which he bowled to end his prolonged spell changed his life. He continued his good show in the ongoing tri-series and is a strong contender for the man of the tournament award.

The effort that Ishant puts in his game impresses me the most, he is still young and new to cricket but the maturity he has shown needs special words of praise. I have seen a remarkable difference in his fielding in such a short span of time, apart from fielding Ishant has also increased his pace by 10 ks and possess good fitness level which is a must for every budding cricketer. he was lapped up for an astounding winning bid of $950,000 by SRK for his franchise Kolkata in the player auction for the IPL. This was the highest amount paid for any bowler in IPL. tournament. I hope this money doesn`t get to his head and he keeps his feet planted firmly and goes on to be one of the great cricketing legends.
As of now all i can say is "Inu ke taare zameen pe nahi, aasman ki bulandiyon ko chuu rahe hain"